There are a couple of search marketing luminaries I really admire. One is the seen-everywhere, cited-everywhere Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro, whose company originated the heat map research which has been so illuminating to the industry. They do a great job on research, they also specialize in B2B search marketing (we’re just thankful they’re in Canada and we’re in Texas), and I bet they do a bang-up job for their clients.

The other guy I am thinking about is Mark Jackson, who is super sharp and unfortunately right here in Texas. He’s actually the inspiration for this post, with his concise, accurate and insightful column in last week’s Search Engine Watch. He’s someone we all can learn from, and his columns are the ones I pass along to our account managers and biz dev people as excellent models for communicating about the complex world of organic SEO.

Here is a taste of his food for thought–remember, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so don’t just read it, DO IT! For more specific information on the issues found at the intersection of web design and search marketing, please see his excellent two-part series on “Don’t Hire a Butcher to do a Baker’s Job,” with 13 questions to ask the design firm.

Last weekend, we learned of the death of beloved U.S. newsman Tim Russert. Within minutes, Google’s results reflected the news in its index. Most of the Top 10 ranked URLs on a search for his name were related to the (very) recent news of his passing.

That’s the “new” reality of SEO, and goes to the heart of why every company should create fresh content.

Fresh content will help you achieve top rankings right away, and help your Web site become an “authority” site. Search engines love fresh content and deep Web sites….Keep in mind, the old tried and true SEO method still holds. You should have static pages (pages that have always been there, and will always be there) within your Web site and a regular schedule of developing links to these pages, both externally (links from other Web sites, using a varied description/anchor text) and internally (links from other pages of your Web site).

There has been a recent change in the Google algorithm, meaning many sites have seen changes in the rankings for cherished search terms. After muttering about it for a couple of weeks, I’ve decided not to take it personally. We’ve been #1 for one particular term for years, so suddenly becoming #2 is not THAT big a deal–especially since the competing site doesn’t have anything like the depth of information, the links, the content or the design licks that our site does. After all, it’s the human who decides which site looks interesting.

And, it’s relatively easy for a site to concentrate on a single term to compete, but our methodology for site optimization looks at 25-30 terms. For our own site, there are 50 terms we monitor, and we have dozens of terms on the first page of Google…we do a good job of filling the niche we defined as our target. Over the years, we’ve been through several major algorithm changes, and the good news is that things settle out, and the cream still rises to the top. None of our clients has ever seen substantial change to their rankings, after the storm passes.

None of us likes change, but change forces us to adapt. High gas prices help us act on our conservationist values, and we suddenly understand the cost of running errands one at a time. Something we all need to do from time to time is to consider how Google looks at our site. What pages are being served up, and which are not being served? There are two major factors to consider: quality content, and quality links.

Take your list of targeted terms and take a fresh look at your rankings. Page one rankings are definitely keepers. Terms that are not in the top 20? It may be time to remove them from your strategy. For those terms that fall onto the second page, now is a good time to think about building them up–move the content higher up in your site, or replace some of those dud terms with these up-and-comers. Also, think about longer keyword phrases that you might have unique content for–unique is a high value at the Googleplex.

Are all your links pointing to the home page? Then you’re missing a huge opportunity. Keyword-based links that point to relevant content pages can be just the thing to pop a #15 ranking onto the first page–and since the vast majority of people only look at Page One results, it’s well worth the extra effort to sharpen your SEO strategy with quality content and quality links.